


The Boys Are Back In Town

by KatieComma



Series: Tumblr Drabbles [7]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Drinking, Drunk Emotions, Friends as Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 02:38:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20332675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieComma/pseuds/KatieComma
Summary: First night back from the sandbox, and Mac has a few too many.





	The Boys Are Back In Town

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wolfypuppypiles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfypuppypiles/gifts).

> Thanks N1ghtshade for the beta read!!!!

Jack relaxes back into the deck chair and relishes the fact that he doesn’t have anywhere to be. No patrols to go on. No bomb nerds to watch over. 

Well… that second one ain’t exactly true. Mac is more than a few brews into their first night back from the sandbox, and as much as Jack would have killed a man to lose himself in a night of cold beer a week before, now he’s nursing the bottle he’s got so he can keep looking out for his EOD tech.

The EOD tech that, shortly, is going to need his hair held back for him like a college girl at her first frat party.

The thought makes Jack chuckle.

“What are you laughin’ at?” Mac slurs drunkenly from the chair next to Jack’s.

“Oh nothin’ hoss,” Jack says, taking a sip of his beer. God it tastes good, better than he remembers.

“I bet you’re thinking about home,” Mac says, his face falling into drunken sullenness. “Ain’t nothin’ gonna keep me from the great state’a Texas,” Mac fumbles through Jack’s accent, sounding more and more like Yosemite Sam every time he does.

“I wasn’t actually,” Jack says. “Just thinkin’ that you’re a cheaper drunk than I expected.”

“M’not drunk. M’fine,” Mac slurs. He pushes himself up from the chair, and sways on the spot. “You need ‘nother one? I’mma get another one.”

“Naw, I’m good bro,” Jack says, holding up his still mostly full bottle. He’s still on his second one. Mac’s about eight in or so.

Mac nods and heads for the cooler across the deck.

First stop after they got off their plane in LA was Mac’s grandfather’s house. The guy was kind enough to offer them a place to sleep for a few days while they got their plans sorted. And man was it a nice place. Hollywood Hills, huge deck overlooking the city. Not quite what Jack expected out of the down to earth man that Mac called Grandpa. And the house was just as down to earth as the man. Jack felt at home in it: like a hunting cabin that had been dropped smack in the middle of yuppie central.

Mac stumbles on his way to the cooler, and seems to change his mind on another drink. Instead he sits down at the fire pit, facing the city, away from Jack. Mac’s shoulders slump, and he leans over to put his elbows on his knees.

Jack was afraid of this. Afraid that they would get a few beers in and the sandbox memories would sneak up on Mac, overwhelm him. Jack’s been through that too many times to count.

Jack sets his beer aside, gets up slowly, so as not to startle his bomb nerd, wanders over with heavy footfalls, and sits right next to Mac.

Mac’s face is heavy with emotion. Normally he’s a cold mask. Most of the guys in the sandbox thought he didn’t have feelings. Jack knew better. Jack could see them in Mac’s bright eyes, swimming just below the surface. Not to mention the fact that Jack’s been with Mac in combat, and has seen the kid lose his cool, seen him fall apart, seen him worry over bombs killing civilians. Jack can read him better than probably anyone after all they’ve been through together.

“What’s goin’ on up in that head’a yours genius?” Jack asks, softly, but trying to sound casual.

Mac stares into the fire and his face twitches this way and that into different emotions. Hurt, anger, frustration, sadness.

“When are you leaving Jack?” Mac asks, but won’t look him in the face.

“Leaving for what?” Jack asks. “Thought we were bunkin’ up in the spare room.”

“For home,” Mac replies. “When are you going back to Texas?”

Jack sighs and sits back. He knows some of Mac’s history. Spend almost a year watching a guy’s back in the field and you’ll learn a thing or two about him. Nights spent away from camp, days spent driving around together. Things are bound to come up. Mac’s lost a lot of people in his life, including the two most important: his mother died when he was young, and his father abandoned him shortly after. Mac’s used to caring about people, and then being left.

“Come on now,” Jack says, trying to lighten the mood a little and bring Mac out of the morose mood he’s in. “You ain’t gonna get rid of me that easily.”

“Gotta go home some time,” Mac says. “It’s all you talked about while we were over there.”

“Well now, I was thinkin’ I go for a visit. Give Mama a peck on the cheek,” he says. “But I can’t stay there Mac. Not now.”

“Why’s that?” Mac asks, still frowning into the fire, not looking at Jack.

“Well cause I got a Wookie life debt to uphold man,” Jack replies. “That’s not somethin’ to take lightly. So I was thinkin’ that if you’re up for it, we head on back to the ranch and spend a week or two with Mama before we figure out our next move.”

Mac’s eyebrows crinkle in confusion and then shoot upwards as he looks over at Jack. “Are you serious right now?” His breath could stop a truck, or kill or horse, or both there’s so much liquor wafting on it.

Jack lets all his honesty show through. “Serious as a heart attack man,” he says. “Long as you’re cool with it. I’m stickin’ around.”

Mac looks like he might cry, heading toward sentimentally drunk. And Jack knows that if Mac starts, then he’ll start, they’ll both just end up hugging and crying like big ole saps.

“I’m cool with it,” Mac says, “definitely cool with it Jack.”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt on Tumblr:  
I think it would be really funny for Jack to have to take care of Mac when he finally gets drunk for once. Mac’s all cute and sill and Jack loves every second of it.
> 
> This actually got a little off track from the prompt... but... yeah... still fits I think.


End file.
